Chapulines

Chapulines have been food in these valleys far longer than beef has. Harvested from alfalfa and maize fields - the rainy months are the season, when nets sweep the crops at dawn - the grasshoppers are cleaned, boiled, then toasted on a comal with lime juice, garlic and powdered chile until they turn deep red and shatter-crisp. Market vendors pile them in mounds sorted by size: the tiny ones eaten by the handful like salted nuts, medium for tacos and tlayuda toppings, and the large ones that stare back and are, most agree, best left to the confident. The taste is not the shock first-timers brace for - salt, lime, chile smoke and a nutty crunch, closer to a fried snack than to anything squeamish. They turn up sprinkled on guacamole, folded into quesadillas with quesillo, ground into salsas and, inevitably, on the rim of mezcal cocktails, where sal de chapulin - the grasshopper-and-chile salt - has become a Oaxacan signature. Nutritionally they are protein-dense and famously sustainable, which is how a village staple became a restaurant flourish.

Highlights

• The market mounds - red-toasted piles sorted by size.
• The seasoning - lime, garlic and chile on the comal.
• The uses - tacos, quesadillas, guacamole and mezcal salt.
• The size ladder - from nut-small to fully recognizable.

When to go

May to October for the freshest harvest, though the markets keep them year-round. Any market morning, sold by the cup.

Good to know

Start with the smallest grade; the large ones are a texture commitment. People with shellfish allergies should be cautious - insects and crustaceans share allergenic proteins. Buy from busy stalls where the turnover is high.

Nearby

Oaxaca's Benito Juarez market, the mezcalerias off Alcala and the Tlacolula Sunday tianguis all sell them by the cup.